Born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, Emily graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in mathematical economic analysis and policy studies in May 2011. While in high school, and as an undergraduate at Rice, she spent summers working in Honduras, Peru and Costa Rica, becoming passionate about international development. After graduation, Emily joined Root Capital, a nonprofit social investment fund that lends capital and delivers financial training to small agricultural businesses in Latin America and Africa. Emily began her career at Root Capital in portfolio operations, where she designed and implemented a loan management system and processed loan transactions, and later worked in risk management, where she developed lending policies and procedures and performed analysis on the non-performing loan portfolio. During the summer between her first and second year in the MPA program, Emily interned at the Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD) of the World Bank, supporting projects on social inclusion in Pakistan and clean cookstoves in Sub-Saharan Africa. Upon completing her graduate degree, she hopes to continue working for a nonprofit organization that focuses on global poverty reduction. In her free time, Emily enjoys playing tennis, yoga, running, swimming and spending a day (or week) at the beach.